Fashion Show on the Hudson

A couple of weeks ago I made my way to the 8th Annual Fashion on the Hudson fashion show at Riverbank Park at 679 Riverside Drive along the Hudson River in the Inwood neighborhood of upper Manhattan. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon as I headed into the Cultural Building in the 28 acre park.

The audience filled the Cultural Building, so I had to move around to get some photos of the models who were in the process of displaying men's swimwear. The muscular male models, with washboard ribbed stomachs marched down the runway showing a range of swimming suits that ranged from modest white trunks, to skimpy speedo cuts with psychedelic designs. I surveyed the crowd and found a number of women who seemed appreciative of the new designs and cuts.

As I was tight on time, I decided to make my way backstage to talk to a few of the models and designers to learn a bit more about them. Backstage a number of models had queued up for the ongoing swimwear segment of the program, while deeper backstage a number of the formal wear models were prepping for their debut.

In the photo above right you can see members of the audience enjoying themselves at the Fashion on the Hudson fashion show at Riverbank Park in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan.

Fashion on the Hudson Showcases Local Designers & Models

Fashion aficionado Daryl H. Miles, Founder of Beyond Styles by Miles, took a few minutes to talk to me about the show. He told me that Sofia Davis, editor of Fashion Avenue News, founded the show and that it has been produced at this location since its inception. At first Sofia held the show outside, but given the vagaries of the weather she decided to bring it in, where it has been ever since.

This year the show hosted 30 designers displaying swimwear, formal wear, casual wear and other stylish creations. The show is free to the public, but you must rsvp because seating is limited. The Fashion on the Hudson fashion show represents a great opportunity to see what's new and what's hot in the local NYC metro fashion world, and provides an opportunity for people interested in the business to meet models, designers and fashion buyers.

Daryl ofBeyond Styles by Miles [www.beyondstylesbymiles.com - not to be confused with www.stylesbymiles.com] has been in the business for a number of years helping designers, models and fashion show organizers promote their fashion lines and brands.

I stayed a bit longer shooting photos of the models and lines before departing. And I'm looking forward to being able to spend more time covering the show next year.

In the photo above right you can see models who participated at the Fashion on the Hudson fashion show at Riverbank Park in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan.

The Tribeca Film Festival & Cinematography

Cinematographer Ellen Kuras Talks about the Cinematic Arts

I attended the 16th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, which ran from April 19th through April 30th this year. Last year I visited and reported on some of the interactive storytelling exhibits, so this year I decided to attend one of the lectures. The one I chose, was given by Cinematographer and Director Ellen Kuras, who talked about the cinematic arts.

After picking up my press pass at the Tribeca Film Festival hub at Spring Studios, I took the subway uptown to the School of Visual Arts in Chelsea on West 23rd Street. There was a line beginning to form, as the event was free to the public. My press pass didn’t provide me with any advantage vis a vis the general public, so I waited along with many of the early attendees who wanted to be sure not to miss the lecture.

Tribeca Film Festival Lecture: Ellen Kuras - Cinematographer

Once inside the theater filled quickly. Ellen Kuras came out and took a seat on the stage. Kuras has a disarming demeanor and it wouldn’t have been difficult for me to believe that I was sitting there with her alone, with nobody else in the room.

Ellen Kuras is an accomplished Cinematographer and has a bit of her own story to tell … which she did, but which I also researched online after the lecture, because her personal story caught my interest.

Kuras Education & Directorial Debut

Kuras studied Anthropology & Semiotics in college at Brown University. Anthropology is the study of man from a cultural, institutional and normative perspective, while semiotics is the study of communication, specifically focusing on communicating meaning through allegories, symbolism, metaphor, analogies and other methods. After college Ellen went on to study photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and filmmaking in New York.

Kuras started her career working on a film about a Laotian who had immigrated to New York, after fleeing war torn Laos in the 1970’s. It’s a narrative with flashbacks that mix historic footage in with the narrative, providing the film with dramatic realism and moving force. Kuras began the film around 1985, but would not finish it until 2008.

Kuras’ Worked with Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Christine Vachon, Julian Schnabel & Many Other Top Names in the Film Making Industry

Ellen’s career includes numerous collaborations with Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Christine Vachon Julian Schnabel and many others. She’s a member of the contemporary film making avant-garde, pushing the envelope to bring real or important artistically told stories about contemporary issues - alive.

Old World Big Screen Theater Coming Back

The United Palace is a Big Screen Theater Built in the 1930's

Last month I had the opportunity to watch George Orwell's 1984 on the big screen at the United Palace theater in Washington Heights. I hopped aboard the subway at Times Square and made my way north into Washington Heights, bumping into a friend of a friend along the way.

I got off the A train at 175th Street and made the one block walk east to the the theater. The outside of the building is rectangular and made of stone, hiding an exquisite interior in an evolving neighborhood. When I stepped inside, I was nearly dazzled by the beauty and old world glamorous feel that the United Palace has managed to keep alive all these years.

More coming later this week.

NY Peace Film Festival

Trying to Bring the Planet to its Senses … One Film at a Time

I attended the 10th annual Peace Film Festival in Manhattan this past weekend. The two day event was held at the All Souls Unitarian Church on Lexington Avenue at 80th Street on the Upper East Side. The festival included about a dozen films covering issues, events and people from around the world, including Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, Latin America and California.

The photo at right is a still from a movie about a lovers relationship between a western woman and a Japanese man in Hiroshima around the time of the dropping of the nuclear bomb.

NY Peace Film Festival History in NYC

I had an opportunity to talk to one of the NY Peace Film Festival co-founders, Yumi Tanaka who provided me with a brief history. The festival began in 2007 when Yumi and co-founder Jonathan Fluck [and a mutual friend who dropped out after the first year] decided to put together a cultural event to showcase conflicts in a multi-dimensional cultural event. Yumi is a standup comedian, their mutual friend had a theatrical background and Jonathan is a social activist, so together they assembled an ensemble that included film, dance, music and poetry in the first year [2007]. The event was held at the Tenri Shinto Church off Union Square.

The next year Yumi and Jonathan morphed the event into a film festival to enable them to better manage it, as live performance requires considerable additional time, rehearsal space and the like, while film followed by live or Skyped talks made the festival more manageable. A few years ago the festival relocated to the All Souls Unitarian Church on the Upper East Side where they were this weekend.

When I arrived the church was closed, but there’s an entrance a bit south of the main entrance to the church, leading into meeting facilities [see photo at right]. Tickets were a very reasonable $12 and were good for the day and multiple films. The audience was comprised of an eclectic set of New Yorkers, including artists and film enthusiasts and social activists.

Tribeca Film Festival & 21st Century Storytelling

Film Festival Explores the Science & Technology of Entertainment

I spent a Sunday afternoon at Spring Studios in Tribeca, attending the Tribeca Film Festival. The festival was founded by Robert de Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2002, in part to bring people back to the Tribeca neighborhood in the wake of the 911 tragedy in the Fall of 2001.

Through the years the Tribeca Film Festival has grown in size and stature, and over the past few years, has begun to introduce, if not fully embrace, the new, rapidly-evolving technologies being used to advance storytelling.

Spring Studios - Hub of Tribeca Film Fest

The hub of the Tribeca Film Festival continues to be at Spring Studios in Tribeca. Spring Studios is a sparkling new, spanking clean facility that was completed in the summer of 2013, and first put into use in the Fall of that year. Spring Studios is home to five studios, a rooftop patio, a gallery, a mezzanine and a cinema theater. Spring Studios overlooks the Holland Tunnel, and has entrances on Varick Street and exits on St. John’s Lane.

Architectural Digest Design Show

Provides Vignettes of Living Lovely at Piers 92 & 94

I attended the Architectural Digest Design Show on Piers 92 & 94 on Thursday afternoon. The show ran through last weekend, providing the public with an opportunity to see the latest and greatest in urban living design and technology.

The show spanned both Piers and included sections dedicated to kitchen, bath, living and dining areas of the home and with a little imagination, possibly the office as well.

The show was well attended by designers, manufacturers, the media, salespeople, buyers and browsers. And the mood seemed buoyant.

Click here to read the rest of our report on the Architectural Digest Design Show incuding the DIFFA on Pier 92.

The Yorkville Nutcracker at the Kaye Theater

Blend of Beauty & Grace at an Enthralling Pace

I just returned from a magical trip into an imaginary wonderland of dance. There’s an afterglow one gets from performances such as this, which challenge a writer’s ability to convey the feeling, that’s nearly indescribable, along the lines of love …

But that said I’ll give it a try. And if not successful, you'll get a second chance as I captured some of the performance on video. And given that a picture says a thousand words, then video must be good for at least as many words.

It was a near balmy evening as I made my way to the Kaye Theater on 68th Street between Park and Lex on the Upper East Side. The Yorkville Nutcracker was to begin at 7 pm and I arrived with just enough time to pick up my ticket and make my way up to the balcony. The Kaye Theater is fairly spacious theater (in as far as Manhattan theaters go) and well kept, seating well over 500 people for each performance.

Midoma – Where Hollywood Has Its Hair Done

Fashion, Fine Art, Fotos & Fun at European Style Hair Salon

It’s not often that one gets to view fine art, have their hair done by a talented European hair stylist, pick up a few fashion tips and walk out feeling like they’ve just returned from Europe. And that is precisely why Midoma is increasingly becoming a not-so-well-kept-secret.

And so it was, one evening in late August, that I journeyed southwest of Times Square into the northern perimter of the Fashion District to view the works of photographer Greg Stowell at the Midoma Hair Salon in Midtown West.

More to come later this week. That’s photographer Greg Stowell, standing next to his empty-headed ex.

Fashion Week Manhattan NYC

Beauty & Style on the Runway At Couture Fashion Week

September 8, 2014 / NYC Fashion Manhattan / Midtown Neighborhood / Midtown Buzz. I attended a bathing suit and bridal gown runway show at Couture Fashion Week at the Crowne Plaza Sunday evening. It was one of many fashion programs going on around NYC during NYC Fashion Week.

The runway show was held on the fourth floor in the Crowne Plaza located at Broadway between 48th and 49th Streets near Times Square. About a half dozen designers were featured in the show which included a beautiful vocal performance by Maryann Connolly and a dance performance by Battle For Your Life Tour Dancers and In Da Clutch and the Hood Lockers.

The show was fully attended with a standing room only crowd. And it was a visual feast of the voluptuous vogue. In the photo at right are the models coming out for a bow at the end of the Maty Machado Swimwear segment of the show.

Fashion Week In Manhattan

September 2, 2014 / Midtown Buzz. The summer has unofficially ended, school has started and Fall Fashion Week has arrived in NYC. There will be fashion events all over the city beginning Wednesday and running until Thursday September 11th.

New York Fashion Week is a collection of many independent events, but the showcase venue is at Lincoln Center where the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week occurs. The Mercedes Benz Fashion Week moved to Lincoln Center from Bryant Park in 2010. It had been held in tents in Bryant Park beginning in 1994.

So look around you this week at what folks are wearing. Temperatures will be in the mid to low 80's and the lows will be in the 60's, so you're not likely to see many fur coats.

Events start mid morning and run into the evening. You can buy tickets at mbfashionweek.com or by searching for the designers you wish to see. Several of them have begun to branch out onto their own, sponsoring their own events.

There will also be a number of parties and social gatherings. So wear your best for Manhattan's fashionista fest. Enjoy.

Indie & Foreign Film Movie Theaters & Film Festivals in Tribeca, SoHo, West & East Village, Midtown, Upper East Side UES & Upper West Side UWS

This section provides an overview of the main movie theaters in Manhattan showing foreign and independent films. Many of these theaters are also hosts or participants in important film festivals in Manhattan.

Midtown / UES / UWS - Manhattan NYC

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